“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” – ESV.
There are times in every preacher’s work when, if he takes the task of teaching the Bible seriously, he comes to themes that he knows are beyond him. In one sense everything in the Bible is beyond us. The Bible contains God’s thoughts, and none of us is ever fully able to encompass the mind of God – His thoughts are not my thoughts, we put everything into a human dimension, all our comparisons are earthy. Nevertheless, there are teachings that we do basically understand—because God has revealed them to us. Not so with every idea in the Bible. From time to time, we come to thoughts that we know we shall never fully understand, at least not this side of heaven.
Glory is one of them. I call it “incomparable,” not only because it resists comparison with anything we know in this life, particularly suffering, which is the contrast found in our verse this morning, but because glory is truly beyond our human understanding. At best we have only a hint of it.
Glory is the word best used to describe God’s magnificence and therefore also the dazzling magnificence of heaven and our share in it. But when we look for descriptions of heaven in the Bible, in most cases the descriptions have a somewhat negative slant. They tell us what heaven will not contain. The best description of heaven in the Bible is probably that of the New Jerusalem in Rev 21. But think how the New Jerusalem is portrayed by the “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away" - Rev 20:3-4 ESV. That God will dwell with us is a great positive. But the strength of the description is in the words: no tears, no pain, no death, no mourning! These are in reality negative ideas, no doubt because we cannot fully understand the positive things, but we can understand the removal of that, which troubles our lives now.
And yet, the greatest word for what is in store for God’s people is glory. Our text says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us”.
So What Is Real Glory?
I find definitions of glory in the various commentaries that I have referred to. But since incomprehensibility has never kept true scholars from defining anything. The definitions seem inadequate to me. I want to suggest that in the case of the word glory we will make far better progress with the thinking of someone whose forte is literature, particularly poetry, rather than biblical scholarship. For that reason, I looked at an essay on glory by C. S. Lewis.
In the summer of 1941, Lewis was asked to give an evening sermon at the University Church of St Mary, and he responded by preparing the piece which he called “The Weight of Glory”. Lewis was one of the best Christian apologists of the twentieth century, and he began by referring to a longing all human beings have for something that can hardly be expressed. He called it “a desire, which no natural happiness will satisfy”, and he found it in our wish to be approved by God. He argued that the biblical word for expressing this wish is glory.
At first, the idea of seeking divine approval seems to be unworthy, and it also did to Lewis when he began his study. But he said that he came to see that it is not unworthy at all, but on the contrary, it expresses a natural and desirable order of things. A child wants approval from his parents and is right to want it. So we too should want approval from our Creator. We are God’s creatures.
But the problem is that we behave in a way that destroys the possibility of that approval, unless God intervenes to save and transform us, which he does in Jesus Christ. One day we will appear before God for judgment. What will happen to us on that day? Lewis asked his listeners. He answered, “We can be left utterly and absolutely outside—Repelled, exiled, estranged, finally and unspeakably ignored. On the other hand, if our faith and trust is in Jesus Christ we can be called in, welcomed, received, acknowledged. As mortal human beings, we walk every day on the razor edge between these two incredible possibilities”.
But there is more to glory even than this. Glory denotes not only “worth”, “acceptance”, or “approval”. It also denotes “brightness”, “splendour” and “luminosity”, perhaps even “beauty”. And we long for all that, too! In fact, we long not only to see what is beautiful. We want to participate in it, to be on the inside of this divine, heavenly beauty, rather than on the outside. In my judgment, it is here that Lewis, the poet, is at his best.
We are to shine as the sun, we are to be given the Morning Star. I think I begin to see what it means. In one way, of course, God has given us the Morning Star already in Christ; you can go and enjoy the gift on many fine mornings, if you get up early enough. What more, you may ask, do we want? Ah, but we want so much more—Something the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and mythologies know all about it. We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else, which can hardly be put into words—to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.
That is why the poets tells us such lovely lies. They talk as if the west wind could really sweep into a human soul; but it can’t. They tell us that “beauty born of murmuring sound” will pass into a human face; but it won’t. Or not yet! For if we take the imagery of Scripture seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the splendour of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths and modern poetry, so false as history, may be very near the truth as prophecy.
At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of the morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But praise God, the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Someday, God willing, we shall get in. When human souls have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, and then we will put on its glory, or rather that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch.
Do we now understand the meaning of glory now? No, I do not think we do, at least not fully. But we have a framework with which we can address the biblical teaching and uncover the specific contribution of our text.
It’s Far More Than Adam Lost
What Paul is beginning to deal with here in Romans, brings us back to our text. But as soon as we turn to that text and try to place it in its context, we notice that something greater even than the restoration of Adam and Eve’s lost glory is involved. As we read on in Rom 8 we find that we are to have an enjoyment of God and a participation in God that surpasses Adam’s.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones says this:
Adam was a perfect man, but his perfection fell short of glorification. There was room for development, and it is clear that glorification was the ultimate that was intended for man. As man he was perfect; there was no blemish in him, there was no sin in him; there was no fault in him. He was in a state of innocence, but innocence falls short of glorification. But what is held before us and offered to us in Christ, and promised to us in him, is nothing less than glorification. The thing to which man, if he had continued to keep God’s commandments, would have arrived, and which would have been given to him as a reward for his obedience, is the thing that is now freely given us in and through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Weighed in the Balance
All this brings me directly to the text. For in Rom 8:18 Paul is comparing the future glory to be enjoyed by God’s people - To their present sufferings, but saying that this glory far outstrips our present suffering. That is obvious, isn’t it? For if the glory we are to enjoy is to exceed even that minimal glory enjoyed by Adam, it is certain that it will exceed the trials we are enduring now.
Paul introduces an interesting though somewhat hidden image at this point in the verbal adjective translated “not worth comparing”. It is the Greek word axios, from the verb agœ, which means “to drive”, “lead”, or “cause to move”. Figuratively used, it refers to something that is heavy enough to promote motion in a balance or, as we would say, to tip the scales.
When we remember that the word glory itself denotes something that is weighty or has substance, it is clear what Paul is suggesting. He is saying that the future glory laid up for us is so weighty that our present sufferings are as feathers compared to it and that they cannot even begin to move the scales. That should give us something to look forward to.
Paul provides a parallel to our text in 2 Cor 4:16&17, which follows a poignant mention of the many persecutions and sufferings he had endured for the sake of Christ. He says, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” - ESV.
These two passages suggest several areas of comparison between our present sufferings and the glory that is to come.
Their intensity
The first area of comparison is between the intensity of the suffering and the intensity of the glory or, as we have been saying, between the “weight” of the two. Suffering is heavy. It hurts. It can hurt so intensely that we scream with terror or cry out with pain. But, says Paul, the intensity of our sufferings is not worth comparing with the glory. And he should know. Paul suffered as much as any man has suffered, judging from his descriptions in 1 Cor 4:9-13; 2 Cor 4:8-12; 6:4-10 and 11:16-33. But he also had a vision of heaven’s glory, having been “caught up to the third heaven” (2 Cor 12:2). In his opinion the intensity of the former is not to be compared to the grandeur and sheer joy of the latter.
Their location
The second area of comparison is between the location of our sufferings and the location of our glory. That is a somewhat awkward way of putting it, of course, but it is hard to think of something better. In Rom 8:18 Paul says that the glory of God is to be revealed “in us”, using a word that literally means “internally” or “in our very being”. This should be contrasted with the words “though outwardly we are wasting away”, which he uses in the parallel text in 2 Corinthians.
The idea seems to be this: Suffering, though felt deeply, nevertheless only affects our outward persons, our bodies. It does not affect the real “us”, those redeemed beings that, says Paul, are “being renewed day by day”. It is that “real me”, the inner me, that is going to participate in the glory. In other words, it is as C. S. Lewis said, We are not just going to observe the beauty; we are going to really share in it. “God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the splendour of the sun. . . . Someday, God willing, we shall get in”. The endurance of outward suffering is not to be compared to our participation in this glory.
Their duration
The final point of contrast between suffering and glory concerns their duration. In Romans Paul distinguishes between “present sufferings”, which means those belonging to this present age – The here and now, and the glory “that will be revealed”, meaning the unchanging and eternal glory of the age to come. In 2 Corinthians he calls the sufferings “momentary” and glory “eternal”. You and I do not think much about eternity. But if we can make ourselves think this way, it is evident that there is no comparison between the glory of the eternal state to come and the sufferings of this passing earthly time, however painful our sufferings may be while we are going through them.
I want to say finally that if we can appreciate what Paul is saying in this text and get it fixed in our minds, we will find it able to change the way we look at life and the way we live—More than anything else we can imagine. It will provide two things at least.
Firstly, Vision
Focusing on the promise of glory will give us a vision of life in its eternal context, which means that we will begin to see life here as it really is. We have two problems at this point. First, we are limited by our concept of time. We think in terms of the “threescore years and ten” allotted to us, or at best the few years that have led up to our earthly existence or the few years after it. We do not have a long view. Second, we are limited by our materialism. Our reference point is what we perceive through our senses, so we have the greatest possible difficulty thinking of “the spirit” and other intangibles. We need to be delivered from this bondage and awakened from our spiritual blindness.
In “The Weight of Glory” Lewis addressed the objection of those who might consider his talk about glory as only fantasy, the weaving of a spell. He replied by admitting that perhaps that is what he was trying to do. But he reminded his listeners that spells in fairy tales are of two kinds. Some induce enchantments. Others break them. “You and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness”. That is not the way I would say it. I would speak of truth as opposed to this world’s falsehood. But it is probably the same thing. Both mean that we need to emerge from our darkness into God’s light.
Secondly, Endurance
“Breaking the spell” will give us strength to endure whatever hardships, temptations, persecutions, or physical suffering God allows us to partake in the here and now. Suppose there were no glory. Suppose this life really were all there is. If that were the case, I for one would not endure anything, at least nothing I could avoid. And I would probably break down under the tribulations I could not avoid. But knowing that there is an eternal weight of glory waiting, I will try to do what pleases God and hang on in spite of anything.
There is one more word in Rom 8:18 that we need to examine. It is the word consider (better rendered “reckon” in the AV). We have seen it fifteen times in this Roman letter, noting that it has to do with reason. It is the process by which we figure something out. I stress it because, although I referred to the idea of “breaking a spell”, I do not want you to suppose that there is anything magical about this. Magic is for fairy tales. But we are dealing with God’s real world, and we are instructed to think this out clearly.
Paul writes, “I consider that . . .” meaning that he has thought it through and concluded that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory, which shall be revealed in us” - (KJV). By using this word he invites us to think it through also.
If you are a Christian, I ask, “Isn’t what the apostle says in this verse true? Isn’t the glory to come worth anything you might be asked to face here, however painful or distressing”? D. Martin Lloyd-Jones challenged his congregation with these words, “The great reality is the glory that is coming. . . . Hold on to this idea that we do not really belong to this present age that ‘our citizenship is in heaven’. This present world is passing, transient, temporary. ‘The world to come’ is the real, the permanent world. That is the one that has substance and, which will endure forever”.
If you know that you are a citizen of heaven, you will endure.
Acknowledgements;
James Montgomery Boice, Romans, an expositional commentary, Baker Books
William Hendricksen, New Testament Commentary, Romans, Baker Academic
Warren W. Wiersbie, Expository Outlines of the New Testament, Chariot Victor Publishing
ESV Study Bible, Crossway Bibles
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 11:24AM